This application relies on Canadian Application No. 2,274,439, filed Jun. 14, 1999, (including its specification, drawings, and photographs) for priority. That application is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
The present invention relates to folding semi-rigid inflatable boat.
Amphibious aircraft (i.e. aircraft that are capable of landing and taking off from land or from water) are especially useful for the coast guard""s search-and-rescue (SAR) operations and other types of marine operations. In order to access a sinking or stranded vessel, the coast guard ideally would like to have a boat that can be deployed from such an aircraft. In that way, the coast guard can reach the vessel in distress rapidly by plane and then deploy personnel into a boat launched from the plane for water operations.
Several potential solutions exist for transporting boats in aircraft. For example, a boat may be carried externally on the aircraft. The primary shortcoming with this method of carrying a boat is that the boat creates aerodynamic drag and interferes with the desired airflow over the wings and control surfaces. Also, the externally-mounted boat is susceptible to coming loose (which is potentially catastrophic during flight).
A second method of transporting a boat is to carry the boat inside the fuselage. This precludes any of the foregoing problems. However, the boats that are transported inside the fuselage are bulky and make it difficult for personnel to embark and disembark on the boat from the plane (see FIG. 1). As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional inflatable or semi-rigid boat 2 (one type of which is often referred to as a Zodiac(copyright) boat) is too bulky to fit inside the fuselage of a SAR amphibious aircraft 100 without significantly interfering with passenger travel in the cramped cabin.
A further problem exists in that conventional rigid boats are bulky and difficult to fit into the confined space available in amphibious aircraft. One potential solution is to use inflatable pontoon boats that are only inflated when needed and can be stored inside the amphibious aircraft in a relatively small space when deflated. Unfortunately, because conventional inflatable boats are flat-bottomed, they become very unstable in choppy water and are at the mercy of side winds, which easily blow them off course. Such instability is especially undesirable in the SAR field where lives may depend on the rescue boat""s ability to quickly maneuver to and from the rescue site.
Rigid inflatable boats (RIB) exist having inflatable gunwales and a rigid V-shaped hull. However, even in the deflated state, such boats are extremely bulky and not practical for use in SAR aircraft. U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,355 discloses a RIB having a transversely hinged two part hull. However, because the RIB only folds laterally, the width is not decreased. In aircraft, whose fuselages are much longer than they are wide, reducing the storage width of the boat is essential. This deficiency is not addressed either by the ""355 patent specifically or the prior art generally.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a boat which can be quickly and easily deployed from the relatively confined space of an aircraft or amphibious aircraft fuselage.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a rigid-hulled boat for launching and recovery from inside an aircraft.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a boat which can be deployed from an amphibious aircraft in rough waters.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a boat which has an integral jet propulsion unit.
The present invention solves the above-identified problems by providing a rigid-hulled, foldable boat comprising a first rigid hull section having a bottom that is substantially V-shaped in transverse section, and a second rigid hull section hinged to the first rigid hull section, wherein an axis of the hinge is substantially parallel to the longitudinal center-line of the boat.
The foldable boat may further comprise an inflatable tube generally disposed above said first and second hull sections and extending rearwardly from a bow of the boat along opposite sides of the boat.
A third rigid hull section also may be hinged to the first rigid hull section, wherein an axis of the hinge is longitudinal and the third section is mounted on an opposite side of the first section from the second hull section such that the first section forms a center section and the second and third sections respectively form port and starboard sections, the second and third sections forming upper edges of the V-shape.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a construction where the hinges of the second and third hull sections permit the second and third hull sections to be folded upward from an unfolded state into a folded state, thereby significantly reducing the storage width of the boat relative to the unfolded state.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a boat where the second and third sections lay on top of the first section when in the folded state.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a latching mechanism for locking the second and third hull sections to the first hull section in the unfolded position.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a boat that is powered by a jet propulsion system integrally mounted in the first hull section.
Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent by reference to the following description and the drawings.